1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a laminating apparatus and a laminating method therefore, and a printing apparatus, particularly, relates to a laminating apparatus for laminating a protective film on a surface of a card and a laminating method for the laminating apparatus, and a printing apparatus equipped with the laminating apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, a laminating apparatus for laminating a transparent film on a printed surface of a card is commonly utilized for the purpose of preventing various kinds of cards such as credit card and identification (ID) card from being altered, and further protecting information printed on a surface of a card from scratching or stains. Such a laminating apparatus is utilized in combination with a card printer, which prints personal data such as a facial portrait on a card, as well as utilized as a stand-alone apparatus.
One of printing apparatuses equipped with a laminating apparatus is disclosed in the Japanese publication of international patent applications No. 2001-520952 or PCT international patent application No. WO99/21713.
The printing apparatus shown in FIG. 15 disclosed in the Japanese publication of international patent applications No. 2001-520952 is one example of a card printer, which incorporates a laminating apparatus.
FIG. 15 is a plan view of a card printer according to the prior art.
In FIG. 15, the card printer is composed of an input hopper 1, an input roller 2, a card 3, a print head 4, a rod 5, a computer 6, drive rollers 7, star rollers 8, a flipping device 9, a card holding area 10, a fan 11, a flipper section 12, a first encoder 13, a second encoder 14, transport rollers 15, a supply roll 16, a take up roll 17, a laminate material 18, past rollers 19, pinch rollers 21 that face toward the transport rollers 15 respectively, a heater 22 and a platen 23. In the card printer shown in FIG. 15, the card 3 printed in a printing station is transferred to a laminating station allocated in the left part of the card printer through an intermediary station.
The card 3 is transferred through a gap between the transport roller 15 and the pinch roller 21 facing toward the transport roller 15 while the heater 22 is separated from the surface of the card 3, wherein the heater 22 includes an actuator (not shown). The laminate material 18 including a plurality of individual laminates carried on a web moves from the supply roll 16 to the take up roll 17 by way of the rollers 19 and the heater 22. Consequently, by taking up the laminate material 18 by the take up roll 17, a laminate provided on the laminate material 18 enables to be positioned in a laminating location on the card 3.
Further, the heater 22 presses the laminate material 18 on the printed surface of the card 3 by the assistance of the not-shown actuator included in the heater 22. Consequently, a laminating process is conducted on the printed surface of the card 3.
Furthermore, in the case of laminating a laminate on the other surface of the card 3, the card 3 is once returned to the intermediary station and flipped by the flipping device 9. Then the flipped card 3 is transported to the laminating station and the laminating process is conducted on the other surface of the card 3.
More, in case the laminating process is not conducted on the card 3, the heater 22 is separated from the surface of the card 3 by the assistance of the not-shown actuator included in the heater 22. When the heater 22 is separated from the card 3, the card 3 is transported by the transport roller 15 and the pinch roller 21 while the card 3 is sandwiched therebetween.
As mentioned above, a laminate film (laminate material) provided with a plurality of laminates is wound around a supply roll and a take up roll. The laminate film supplied from the supply roll is conducted to the thermal compression bonding process by a heater. Then a laminate is laminated on the surface of the card by taking up the laminate film by the take up roll. In other words, a laminate is peeled off from the laminate film that is taken up by the take up roll. It is preferable that an angle of peeling off the laminate from the laminate film is made to be enlarged when taking up the laminate film. In other words, in case a peeling-off angle of the laminate film is small, the laminate film to be taken up is almost in parallel with a card to be transported. Consequently, a laminate is hardly peeled off from the laminate film, and the laminate may remain on the laminate film in some cases.
Accordingly, in the card printer according to the prior art, there exists a problem such that the laminating process is not assuredly conducted on a card. In this regard, an angle of peeling off a laminate film is preferred to be enlarged. However, there exists another problem such that a peeling-off angle of the laminate film is hardly made to be enlarged because the laminate film may interfere with a transport roller or other members constituting a laminating station.